Patronus
by AnnieF1229
Summary: Two characters reflect on the forms that their Patronuses take.


Hermione's Patronus

Hermione watched as the Patronuses of various DA members bounded around the room before turning into wisps of soft white light and disappearing. She was proud of everyone. This was very advanced magic that they were all dealing with. She was especially proud of Harry. She knew that he would be a good teacher despite his initial trepidation and as she watched him circling the clusters of students she realized that he was really beginning to love these lessons. She had produced a corporeal Patronus early on in their lessons and had been delighted that it had taken the shape of an otter, her favorite animal. Otters are diligent yet playful animals and very fluid in their movements and she figured that these qualities reflected her own relationship with magic and spells. She loved her Patronus and the comfort it made her feel as it ambled around a room.

Later that night she was taking a break from studying Ancient Runes and instead was watching her Patronus' progress around her empty dorm room. As it looped in midair in front of her face she sat up straight and leaned in closer. The otter was twirling around right in front of her only its face was a little pointier than she originally realized and its fur wasn't quite sleek enough to be that of an otter. She lost her concentration and with a pop her Patronus was gone. She sat in silence for a minute head tilted and thoughts running wildly. Why did her Patronus look so strange? Had it always looked that way? No. She was sure that when she had first produced the Patronus that it had been unequivocally an otter. But this newest Patronus was no otter. It was a ferret. She murmured, "Expecto patronum" one more time and the familiar otter came forth once more. Reassured she shook her head slightly and picked up her textbook to finish her assignment.

A few days had passed since Hermione had sensed a momentary change in her Patronus and she hadn't thought of the incident again. She was sitting at the Gryffindor table at dinnertime eating her steak and kidney pie while pouring over her notes from that day's Herbology lesson. She made annotations intermittently and was almost finished by the time Harry and Ron plopped down next to her. Ravenous from their Quidditch practice it was with quick hands that they scooped food onto their plates. She glanced up long enough to roll her eyes as she watched Ron shovel half a piece of pie into his mouth before returning her attention back to her notes. She mostly tuned the boys out but caught snip-its of their conversation about dodging Bludgers and Keeping tactics, but the introduction of a new, familiar voice forced her to jerk her head up.

"Talking about Weasley's inability to catch a single Quaffle again, Potter?" Malfoy drawled from across the table. "You know, we're all delighted he's joined the team. Now we'll definitely win the Cup and in the meantime will get to watch Weasley flailing about like a drowning man in front of the whole school." Ron's head bent and he slowly lowered his fork so that it lightly clattered against his now empty plate. Hermione glanced at his defeated form before frowning up at Malfoy.

"Shut it, Malfoy" Harry retorted. "Ron's an amazing Keeper and you're just worried because you know that we're going to beat you again this year."

"Please, Potter. You know as well as I do that Weasley is a horrendous Keeper. You can pat his back and give him pep speeches as often as you want; it's not going to make any difference." With a nod to the two boys he said, "Potter. Weasley." and before turning on his foot he smirked at Hermione and gave her his usual sardonic, "Granger." Hermione watched as he left the Great Hall and turned back to Ron who was being comforted by Harry. "Don't worry Ron," she said. "I know you'll be brilliant." The rest of the dinner was spent by Harry and Hermione attempting to pacify Ron, and they had even gotten him to smile slightly once as they were getting up to go. Hermione left the boys on the staircase leading to the fifth floor and headed towards the library.

Sitting at her usual table a few hours later Hermione took a break from reading to rub her eyes and stretch a little bit. Hiding a yawn behind her hand she looked around the library at the tables full of studying students. Their O.W.L.s were taking place at the end of this year and she was happy to see that a lot of other fifth years, mostly Ravenclaws, were taking them as seriously as she was. If only she could get Harry and Ron to take them as seriously as everyone in the library at this moment. She scanned the tables once more and her eyes lingered on a small cluster of Slytherins across the library. She noticed Draco Malfoy's blonde head bowed low over a piece of parchment and her eyebrows came together in a scowl. How could someone so intelligent and talented be so cruel? He had never treated her as an equal, even in classes where they were clearly matched, and he reveled in hurting others. She felt slightly sorry for him because he was an obvious product of his environment, but he had never made any attempt to break away from his prejudiced upbringing and because of that she wouldn't waste any more time dwelling on the wasted potential of Draco Malfoy. A little while later she gathered all of her books, rolled up her parchments, and put everything in her bag as she made her way out of the library and towards Gryffindor common room.

Passing through the darkened hallways she met a few students and said hello to those that she knew. She was almost at the staircase with the quicksand step when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Draco Malfoy making his way down the same corridor which she had just been walking through. He was about to round the corner to head towards the dungeons and his own common room when he saw Hermione watching him from the foot of the steps and stopped short. He shot her a characteristic smirk and drawled, "Problem, Granger?" before continuing on his way. Something about the confrontation unsettled her and she mused about it on the final stretch of her walk. Sure, she had had incidents with Malfoy inside Hogwarts before, but something about this one felt familiar even though she was sure she hadn't met him alone in a corridor before. She went to bed that night still trying to figure out why her encounter with Draco Malfoy had bothered her so much.

Hermione woke abruptly surrounded by the early morning light panting slightly and wildly looking around her. She sank back into her pillow and revisited the dream which she had just woken from going over all of its details. It had started out as a real memory. She and Ron had been on their first night of Prefect duty together and the castle was silent. Ron wanted to retire early because nothing was going on, but Hermione reminded him that they had a responsibility to their school and that they needed to see it through. He had grumbled a bit at first but eventually trudged on behind her. About twenty minutes later they were passing by the library when Ron said suddenly, "You truly are amazing Hermione." "What," she had asked him. "You're amazing Hermione. You're smart, kind, responsible, and a great friend. I'm sorry if sometimes I don't show you how much I appreciate it all." She had stared at him open-mouthed and blushed as he stepped forward and gave her a single peck on the lips, stepping back and blushing a deep red himself. That's what had really happened, but in her dream tonight as Ron had neared the end of his speech he had morphed into Draco Malfoy and it had been he who kissed Hermione. She was bewildered by the change. The kiss with Ron had been sweet and perfect and everything she had ever imagined it would be. She had liked Ron since their first year so why was Draco Malfoy replacing him in her dream of the happiest moment they had shared together? It didn't make any sense. She didn't feel that way about Draco and obviously didn't wish in any way that he had been the one to kiss her instead of Ron. And yet, the shift in the dream had felt both familiar and welcome. With a start she suddenly realized why the scene had felt so familiar. That day in her room when she had been practicing her Patronus, the day that she thought it had changed its shape, she had been thinking about her kiss with Ron. She had been concentrating on the way she had felt in the moment as was required when using the Patronus charm, but looking back she realized her concentration may have wavered at one point. And the moment that this happened was when she noticed that her Patronus' shape seemed odd before it had disappeared with a pop.

She forced her mind back to that day and she could see the otter gliding along through midair at the same time she could remember thinking about the way Ron had blushed after kissing her. She felt an uneasiness growing in her stomach as she realized that on that day the Ron in her mind had blonde hair and a blurred face as he pulled away from her. She felt confused by the whole thing and tried to fall back asleep but ended up tossing and turning, her thinking on overload. She got up a couple of hours later with the rest of her roommates and got ready for the day. She was silent at breakfast and had to keep herself from glancing over at the Slytherin table. Thoughts of Draco Malfoy filled her mind all day and she kept her eyes focused on her textbook in every class that they shared.

Draco's Patronus

Being a member of the Inquisitorial Squad certainly had its perks. Draco need only sneer at other students in the corridor and they'd either walk quickly by with their heads down or turn around and walk the way they had just come. He'd had an inkling of that power when he was just a Prefect, but now he was actually feared at Hogwarts. He took this fear as a sign of self-respect, however, and it only increased his arrogance. He could do anything he wanted, and what he wanted most was to catch Potter and his rag-tag group of friends at one of their secret meetings. He didn't really care what they were doing, it didn't matter to him at all, but to finally be able to get him in trouble for real without the protection of Dumbledore was an opportunity he didn't want to miss.

As he was musing about his victory over Potter he noticed Hermione Granger walking towards him with Looney Lovegood. He continued to lean against the wall and followed them with his eyes. As they passed by them he heard the Lovegood girl say, "I'm very happy mine was a hare. I can't imagine an ethereal Crumple Horned Snorkack bounding around, can you?" He watched Granger shake her head in exasperation and begin to reply when she noticed him staring and tapped Luna's arm. He rose his eyebrows in response to her scowl.

Later that night as he was in the library studying for their O.W.L.s he felt eyes upon him. He scanned the room and noticed Granger at a table by herself, books strewn about the tabletop. Seeing her there reminded him of when they were in the corridor earlier that day. Remembering what she had been talking to Lovegood about he decided to do some research. He got up and scanned the Charms and Wandwork section when he happened upon a book entitled, _Ethereal__Emissions_. He took the tome back to his table and flipped through it until a chapter on Patronuses jumped out at him. As he scanned the page he recognized it as very advanced magic. He gathered up his books along with _Ethereal__Emissions_ and left the library to return to the Slytherin common room.

So. Somewhere and at some unknown time Potter, Granger, Looney and the rest of them were learning about Patronuses. But why? The only time Draco had ever seen a Dementor was when they were sent to guard the school back in third year so what good would it do learning how to repel one now? He was about to round the corner when he saw Granger watching him at the bottom of a set of stairs that would take her towards the seventh floor. "Problem, Granger?," he drawled before continuing on his way.

The sight of her standing there had initially unnerved him. It was almost as if she knew that he was thinking of catching her and her friends. It wasn't the first time that he had felt Granger's eyes on him over the years. Sometimes he would feel her eyes digging into the back of his head in Potions class when he received highest marks in the class and when he would turn to smile sardonically he could practically hear the screaming tirade taking place inside her head. He loved infuriating her and the rest of the Golden Trio, but the way she had just looked at him was different than those other times. It was almost as if she was trying to figure him out too.

When he reached the Slytherin common room he went right up the stairs to his bedroom without stopping to talk with anyone. He laid _Ethereal__Emissions_ out on his bed and read the theory over and over. Once he understood what he had to do to conjure a Patronus he began concentrating on his happy memory. He remembered the day his father had given him his new Nimbus 2001 and informed him that he was going to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He replayed the memory while whispering, "Expecto Patronum." He opened his eyes to see small wisps emanating from his wand, but nothing full-bodied as was described in the text. He tried all night to produce a Patronus, but eventually he put the book away and went to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast all he could think about were his feeble attempts at the Patronus charm the night before. He knew that his pronunciation was correct and that he was concentrating hard enough because he had produced those wisps. He realized that his problem must be in the memory. He glanced up from his plate at the Gryffindor table. Potter and Weasley were there, Weasley shoveling food into his mouth at an alarming rate, and across the table Granger was having a staring contest with her porridge. He watched her move the spoon around in lazy loops and wondered what her happy memory was. The Golden Trio got up to leave and he followed them out to their Defense Against the Dark Arts Class.

He sat down in front as usual and pretended to pay attention to the textbook in front of him. Near the end of the hour Professor Umbridge coughed to signal that she wanted their attention. In her sickly sweet voice she announced, "Attention children. I'm pleased to announce that Draco Malfoy is currently receiving the highest grade in the class. Join me in giving him a hand." As she led the Slytherins with her tiny clap he turned to look at the expression of outrage on Granger's face. As she turned from Umbridge to Draco her face relaxed and Draco saw the faintest trace of a blush as she lowered her head to her textbook, shaking her head slightly. He stared at her a moment longer before turning back to his classmates and offering a little bow in response to their raucous cheers.

That night, Draco tried to produce his Patronus again. If Weasley and Looney Bin were learning to do it than he should surely be able to accomplish it as well. He was thinking about kicking off from the ground on his brand new Nimbus 2001 and turning around for his father's approval, but instead of his father watching him unmoved from the ground Hermione was there wearing the horrified look he had seen in class earlier that day. As he watched her she shook her head and broke out into a smile. He opened his eyes in surprise just in time to see a pearly otter bouncing in front of his face. As the memory/dream faded the otter disappeared with a small pop. He stared at the place where it had been in disbelief. An otter? And why on Earth was he thinking about Hermione Granger?


End file.
